Jada Pinkett Smith, 52, addressed why she waited seven years to tell the world that she’s been separated from Will Smith, 55, since 2016. The actress appeared on Jay Shetty‘s On Purpose podcast on October 16 and revealed that she and Will nearly shared the truth about their separation when they talked about Jada’s infamous “entanglement” with August Alsina on Red Table Talk in 2020. “I was going to go to the red table by myself to talk about the entanglement,” Jada explained. “But Will decided he wanted to come with and we were going to then tell the world, ‘Hey, we haven’t been together and this happened during that time.’ ”
However, Jada said that Will decided last-minute he “wasn’t ready” to talk about the state of his marriage on his estranged wife’s talk show at the time. “He wasn’t ready for the world to know that. I had to respect that. Well I didn’t have to, but I wanted to,” the mom-of-two said. Jada explained that she decided to keep their secret even though it perpetuated the “narrative” that she was an “adulteress” who “betrayed” the King Richard star.
“I was ready to let go of the persona I had created around myself,” Jada said on the podcast when elaborating on why she didn’t reveal the separation at the time. “That had put me in a golden cage. So I had to stay on my journey, I had to stay on my path while also respecting that Will wasn’t ready. So I said, ‘You know what, this is my mess anyway, I’m going to take this heat because guess what? The heat is coming either way.’ ”
Jada dropped the bombshell revelation that she and Will have been separated since 2016 in an interview with Hoda Kotb on NBC News while promoting her new memoir, Worthy. During a recent appearance on TalkShopLive, Jada clarified that she was never unfaithful during her nearly 20-year marriage to Will.
“I just need people to know, OK, I did not cheat on Will Smith no matter how sad he looked at that table,” Jada noted, referring to the 2020 Red Table Talk interview with Will. “And when you read [my memoir, Worthy], you will kind of get an understanding of why the ‘Red Table’ even happened in the first place,” she added.
Jada and Will tied the knot in 1997 and were together until their separation in 2016. The pair, who share kids Willow, 22, and Jaden, 25, have continued to be in each other’s lives since their split. Jada even stood by Will after he slapped Chris Rock across the face at the 2022 Academy Awards over a joke about Jada’s alopecia.